David Obrien on Walter Smith

Last updated : 09 January 2002 By David Obrien

Dear oh dear! Some fans seem to have got themselves into a bit of a state at Everton's recent run of form.

The club needs stability, and hope. There has always been hope, and with time comes stability, the club may just have reached the stage where it can start to progress.

Aside from talk of the Stadium and being a b** club (I hate those words) the very core of Everton has been changing. Very slowly it has to be said but nevertheless changing, this has only been possible through the club acquiring stability in its management.

Say what you want about Walters's tactics, but he has an eye for a good (and the odd bad!) player, and in a club of ever tightening purse strings it is important to have in place a strong manager with faith in his abilities. Walter has made a few duff signings in his time-Barbarella for one. He has also made some rather good ones, the Captain is out at the moment but can you remember his spate of goals that saved the club from the very real possibility of slipping down to Nationwide. I say keep the faith at least for the moment!

I am embarrassed to admit I have read Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography, apart from my thoughts about him being confirmed I read with interest a tactic he used to use before a match and at half time.

He would almost goad his players by telling them that everyone would love to see them lose and that they were hated. This apparently gave his players the strength to go out and try their hardest to win every match.

At the moment we are the laughing stock of the Premiership and the second division (Stoke - see you next year etc blah!). I don't know about you but I'm pissed off about it and so I think are the players and the management. Shall we fight amongst ourselves? Or shall we get out there and show everyone?

You know what I'm talking about!

The Blue Phantom

(Team talks are available from £175.00)